The present invention is generally related to data capture devices and, more particularly, to a device for reading both optical and magnetic data from a credit card or other document.
In recent years, many credit cards have been provided with magnetic areas containing data relative to the card holder and associated account. Generally, these areas are defined by a stripe of magnetic material disposed longitudinally on the card. An appropriate magnetic read head is passed over the stripe to provide signals representative of the magnetic data. Movement may be achieved by way of a card transport, with the magnetic read head being held stationary. Alternately, means may be provided to move the read head while holding the card stationary. Such transport mechanisms are well known and many are commercially available.
While the magnetic stripe is a convenient means for storing information on a credit card it may be easily copied and duplicated by such well known techniques as "skimming". Thus, it is relatively simple and inexpensive for one to produce counterfeit credit cards. More recently, it has been proposed to provide credit cards with optical data elements, in addition to the magnetic stripe data, whereby the pair of data sets may be utilized to determine the authenticity of the card. Such a security feature is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 381,351, filed May 27, 1975 in the name of Francis C. Foote and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Briefly, the security feature entails the use of a security code or the like which is defined at least in part by the spacial relationship between the optical and magnetic data elements on the card. After encoding, each card is assigned a corresponding security code which is recorded at a CPU or validation module for subsequent comparison with a code generated when the card is presented and read at a remote terminal. A favorable comparison within predetermined limits by this system indicates that the card is authentic, while the absence of such a comparison indicates that the card is counterfeit. In order to produce a counterfeit or duplicate card it is necessary to reproduce both data sets as well as the spacial relationship between the two. This, of course, cannot be achieved by "skimming" and would require considerable time and expense, as well as the use of sophisticated equipment to produce merely a single counterfeit card.